More than 30 years ago, the National Center for LGBTQ Rights (NCLR) began its fight to end conversion therapy — a dangerous practice that claims to be able to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, causing devastating harm to LGBTQ+ youth and their families. In the decades since, that work has grown into NCLR’s Born Perfect, a national effort that has helped pass protections in 27 states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and more than 100 municipalities.
Now, in Chiles v. Salazar, the U.S. Supreme Court is weighing whether Colorado’s law protecting youth from conversion therapy by licensed mental health professionals violates the First Amendment. Oral arguments were heard on October 7, 2025, and a decision is expected prior to the end of June 2026. The outcome could reshape the legal landscape for every state that has acted to protect its young people.
But here is what we want everyone to understand: This case is about how conversion therapy can be regulated NOT whether conversion therapy is safe or legal. No matter how the Supreme Court rules, conversion therapy will remain malpractice, consumer fraud, and a violation of the ethical standards that govern every licensed mental health professional in this country.
What the Case Is Actually About
The plaintiff, Kaley Chiles, is a licensed professional counselor in Colorado represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom. She argues that Colorado’s Minor Conversion Therapy Law censors her conversations with minor clients and therefore violates her free speech rights.
What Colorado’s law actually does is straightforward: it prohibits licensed mental health professionals from engaging in conversion therapy with clients under 18. It does not restrict what anyone can say in public, in a church, in a book, or in any other setting. It regulates a specific professional practice that every major medical and mental health organization in the country has condemned as harmful and ineffective.
This includes the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Counseling Association, and dozens of others. The consensus is not close. It is overwhelming and unequivocal: conversion therapy does not work, and it causes serious harm.
A Court Ruling Cannot Change the Science — or the Ethics
This is the most important thing to understand about this case. The question before the Court is a narrow one about the First Amendment and the scope of state regulatory authority. What the Court cannot do is change the overwhelming scientific and medical consensus about conversion therapy.
Conversion therapy has been rejected by the American Psychiatric Association since 1998 and by the American Psychological Association since 2009, along with the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians, and many more.
That consensus means that conversion therapy is — and will remain — malpractice. A licensed therapist who subjects a patient to a treatment that every mainstream professional organization has condemned as harmful and ineffective is practicing below the standard of care. Period. That is true whether or not a state statute specifically names conversion therapy. It is true in all 50 states. And no Supreme Court ruling will change it.
Courts have also recognized that conversion therapy is consumer fraud. In the landmark 2015 case Ferguson v. JONAH, a New Jersey jury unanimously determined that conversion therapy constituted consumer fraud and unconscionable business practices, ordering the organization to shut down permanently. The National Center for LGBTQ Rights has pursued the same theory in our own litigation. In a consumer fraud lawsuit we filed on behalf of a client against a California-licensed therapist who subjected her to conversion therapy, a court affirmed that conversion therapy may constitute consumer fraud, and the case resulted in a settlement. Every state has consumer protection laws that prohibit fraudulent commercial practices. Charging a person money for a “treatment” that the entire medical establishment has determined does not work and causes serious harm is textbook fraud — regardless of what the Supreme Court says about the First Amendment.
What the Research Shows
The evidence on conversion therapy is extensive and consistent. Research has linked the practice to depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicidal ideation. According to The Trevor Project’s national survey, 15% of LGBTQ young people reported being threatened with or subjected to conversion therapy, and those who experienced it reported attempting suicide at more than twice the rate of those who did not.
These aren’t abstract numbers. They represent real young people who were told by professionals they trusted that they are broken and need to be fixed. That message — delivered in a therapeutic setting by a licensed authority figure — causes lasting psychological damage.
Why This Case Still Matters
If conversion therapy is already malpractice and fraud, why do state laws prohibiting therapists from subjecting minors to conversion therapy matter? Because explicit statutory prohibitions provide clarity, enforceability, and a powerful message of protection.
State prohibitions give licensing boards a clear, specific basis for disciplinary action. They put therapists on unambiguous notice. They tell LGBTQ young people and their families that the state stands behind them. And they serve an important public education function, helping families understand that these practices are not legitimate.
If the Court strikes down Colorado’s law, it could limit states’ ability to enforce similar protections. The landscape is already shifting: in December 2025, the 6th Circuit blocked Michigan’s conversion therapy ban on First Amendment grounds, Virginia’s ban was effectively gutted by a 2025 consent decree barring the state from enforcing key provisions, and Kentucky’s ban was overturned by the state legislature in March 2025.
These are real losses. But they do not change the underlying reality: conversion therapy is bad medicine, it is professionally unethical, and it is fraud. Those truths are not up for a vote — in a legislature or a courtroom.
Where We Go From Here
When NCLR’s Born Perfect program (#BornPerfect) launched in 2014, protections existed in only a handful of states. In the years since, we’ve worked alongside survivors, medical professionals, faith leaders, and state legislators to build a national movement — one that has spanned red states and blue states, with Utah’s legislature voting unanimously to ban conversion therapy for minors and states like Kentucky, Colorado, and Virginia enacting protections with bipartisan support. Since 2012, Republican legislators have supported prohibitions on conversion therapy introduced into legislatures across the United States more than 1,000 times. And in the Supreme Court case itself, amicus briefs supporting Colorado’s law were filed by faith-based mental health professionals, former conversion therapy leaders, and conversion therapy survivors — as well as 23 faith organizations represented by Americans United. The opponents of these laws want to frame this as a conflict between religion and regulation. The people who actually do this work for a living — including people of deep faith — know better.
Whatever the Court decides, the Born Perfect program will continue fighting for every LGBTQ young person through every available avenue — state legislation, licensing board regulations, consumer fraud litigation, and public education. If the Court upholds Colorado’s law, we will use that momentum to push for protections where they’re still lacking. If the Court strikes it down, we will work with licensing boards and professional organizations to enforce the standards of care that already exist, and we will continue standing with survivors in courtrooms across the country to hold conversion therapists accountable for fraud. We are also working with states to extend statutes of limitations so that survivors who need more time to come forward — as many do — have a meaningful opportunity to seek justice.
Here’s what you can do right now:
Talk about it. Share what you know about the harms of conversion therapy with your family, friends, and community. Make sure people understand that this practice is rejected by the entire medical establishment — and that no court ruling changes that.
Support survivors. If you or someone you know has been affected by conversion therapy, the National Center for LGBTQ Rights legal helpline is available at (800) 528-6257. You are not alone.
Stay informed. Follow the National Center for LGBTQ Rights for updates as we await the Court’s decision and prepare for whatever comes next.
Every child deserves to grow up knowing they are worthy of love and belonging. That has always been the heart of Born Perfect — and it is what we will keep fighting for, no matter what.
For more information about the Born Perfect campaign, visit nclr.org/our-work/bornperfect. If you or someone you know needs legal support related to conversion therapy, please contact the National Center for LGBTQ Rights Free Legal Help Line at (800) 528-6257 or (415) 392-6257.
